Importance of Training and Development for Employees

Viren Kapadia April 21, 2023
Importance of Training and Development for Employees

Investing in talent is vital for business growth and to maintain competitiveness in a tough, global market. Today, Millennials and Gen Z are the dominant demographic in the workplace. These generations consider opportunities for career growth, investment in employee development, and training crucial factors that influence whether they will stay or leave their workplace.

Organizations across the globe are now getting increasingly focused on elevating their learning and development and training ecosystem to create a high-impact learning culture. Building such a culture becomes essential in today's age as the world of work stays in a state of constant evolution.

The accelerated pace of technological change, increasing digital transformation of enterprises across industries, the rise of hybrid work, remote and disparate teams, and increasing competitiveness in a global market warrant robust training strategies. These become essential to help employees and, consequently, organizations stay ahead of the curve and on the path to success.

The Benefits of Training and Development for Employees

Here is the data that proves the benefit of training and development for employees.

  1. Training Drives Job Satisfaction
  2. The workforce of today has different expectations from their workplace. The workforce is increasingly leaning towards building their careers rather than merely doing a job. Learning and development opportunities are directly related to job satisfaction as they help the employees work and perform better.

    Research shows that employees tremendously value training opportunities. 41% of employees consider their company's career advancement opportunities a very important factor in their job satisfaction. Research also shows that 94% of employees would stay in a company longer if it invested in employee learning and development.

  3. Productivity Driver
  4. Employees are also looking at ways to elevate their productivity and efficiency to drive high performance and aid career progression. Employee training and development is great for elevating employee productivity and, consequently, for the organizational bottom line. The increase in employee productivity is through skill advancement and is one of the most impactful things organizations can do to influence positive organizational outcomes.

    Studies conducted by the National Center on the Educational Quality of the Workforce (EQW) revealed that, on average, a 10% increase in workforce education level led to an 8.6% gain in productivity, while a 10% increase in the value of equipment increased productivity by 3.4%.

  5. Engagement Influencer
  6. 87% of millennials believe professional development opportunities are a critical aspect of company culture. The current workforce values learning and development opportunities as it directly impacts employability and career progression. They are actively choosing to work for organizations that show dedicated investment in employee development programs and have robust learning and development and training initiatives.

  7. Catching Up on Skill Development
  8. Employees across the globe are recognizing the importance of broadening their skill sets to remain relevant and progress along their career paths. They are more aware than ever of the gap between their current skills and the ones they might need for future roles, irrespective of whether it is inside or outside their organizations. Given the current pace of change, skills are expiring faster than ever before, and employees are aware that they need to invest in accruing the right skill sets that will help them move ahead.

    Reports show that 68% of workers are willing to stay with their employer throughout their careers if the employer makes an effort to upskill them. They also reveal that "nearly 50% of workers who want to stay in their current company would only do so under the condition of learning new skills and promises of career progression."

  9. Navigating the Automation and New-tech Challenge
  10. Employees across the globe are concerned about the impact of the rapid adoption of new technology and automation on their jobs. On one hand is the need to embrace new tech and automation to navigate this complex world of work. On the other lies the worry about becoming redundant in the wake of technological advancements. Then there are the critical skills needed to navigate the world of hybrid work.

    The highlights the fears in the mind of employees as they evaluate what lies ahead of them. According to this study:

    • 52% of today's employees believe they are easily replaceable in their jobs.
    • 41% of employees fear losing their jobs
    • 40% believe their skills will become outdated because of technological advancements associated with automation, artificial intelligence, and robots

    Employees are looking at comprehensive learning and development and training programs to navigate their careers and remain on the path of professional and financial success.

  11. Training and Development in the Hybrid Era
  12. The training and development landscape has evolved phenomenally to meet the growing needs of employees all over the world. This is because how learning takes place has had to evolve. As the pace of change accelerates, the pace of accruing and disseminating information has had to evolve as well. The workplace is now hybrid and thereby demands development and training initiatives to become flexible, easily accessible, and easily consumable. Employees want access to uniform, impactful, and comprehensive learning experiences irrespective of their location. The days of traditional classroom training are well behind us as well. Employees now want;

    • Greater flexibility to consume information and elevate their learning outcomes.
    • Access to the best trainers and subject matter experts for their skills development.
    • To crowdsource information across the internet, identify training programs that will ensure career progressions, and consume all this information anytime-anywhere in a device-agnostic way.
    • An environment of continuous learning where they can take charge of their learning and skill enhancement needs. Comprehensive knowledge repositories, training recordings, online training programs, etc., become crucial to create such an enabling environment.
    • Options to unlevel their knowledge and skills through podcasts and webinars.

  13. Training Needs a Technology-powered Backbone
  14. A comprehensive LMS platform is now a critical and indispensable part of the toolkit of forward-thinking organizations. With hybrid work becoming the norm, an LMS ensures that all employees get a unified learning experience. Access to the best subject matter experts and trainers becomes easier since an LMS makes learning location agnostic. For example, with robust and comprehensive LMS platforms organizations can;

    • Provide exhaustive learning repositories, powerful features, and a user-friendly interface to ensure greater learning and skill enhancement and lower cognitive load.
    • Make learning scalable and disseminate new programs at speed.
    • Leverage deep analytics and insights and improve learning outcomes through measurable and quantified methods.
    • Integrate webinars with LMS to drive greater engagement and allow training programs to become event-driven sessions instead of course-driven.

    Benjamin Franklin said, "An investment in knowledge always pays the best interest." Research has previously shown that organizations that offer comprehensive training programs realize 218% higher income per employee than companies without formalized training. They further enjoy a 24% higher profit margin than those who spend less on training.

  15. The Bottom Line
  16. The employees have spoken and proclaimed that they value investment in their learning and development. Those who take cognizance will influence higher retention, productivity, and profitability. Those who don't will be taking a huge risk. Connect with our experts to see how the Gyrus LMS platform can help you create winning learning and development initiatives to attract and retain top talent in today's tough market.